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Planet Eben

Long ago, when I was very ill and in a daze, and my recovery not so certain, a story came to me. When I recovered, it took on a life of its own. The clarity of vision and the ability to draw was one of the good things that happened when I was ill, but those faded with time. But not the wish to see the places I’d envisioned. It became a lifelong quest, first with paper and pencil, and finally computer art programs.

This is the planet Eben, a near twin of Earth, and the home now of, not one, but many races of alien beings who choose a young man from Earth to further a noble and remarkable cause. Like many other places, much of Eben’s history is dictated by geology and astronomy. The cradle of Ebenese civilization lies in what is now the desert country of Kemesh. Walled in by the mighty Androgon Mountains, the inhabitants who lived there thousands of years ago had no choice but to fight, explore, and expand to the east. However, one day, a party of refugees did manage to cross the mountains, and from there an empire grew. After thousands of years, the resulting 135 countries of Eben merged into the 36 of today with each country preserving some of its language and ways while at the same time joining the global and interplanetary order. Each country’s capital city took the name of the country itself. One country has a particular tie to Earth.

My first attempt at a map was done years ago by using Photoshop to cut apart a map of the world and reassemble it to make a few pictures of one side of their globe and the continent which surrounds the inland sea. Only one image survives. Sadly, the master Photoshop document is gone. And so, upon discovering this site, I was inspired to start again, this time aiming to do the entire planet and, with the help of the 3D computer art program, Bryce 7, to take advantage of the new ability to project the map onto shapes and, for the first time, see the planet and its moons from all sides…outside of my mind.

I’m not really looking to change much. The challenge was to construct it as I saw it with a modicum of scientific accuracy while at the same time purposely allowing room for the unexpected. A handful of the names I borrowed from science fiction novels/movies that just sound wonderful to me.

The planet (and moon) models were made in Bryce. Eben consists of 10 spheres, each one a tiny, tiny bit bigger than the one within it. The innermost sphere is nothing but the oceans. Then, in order to minimize distortion, each continent was centered onto its own map, projected onto its own sphere and rolled into place. The outer four spheres make up the atmosphere. They consist of a cloud map and a storm map with hurricanes. Both of those I found online. Finally a bluish haze sphere went over everything and the outermost sphere is the atmosphere. I used Bryce's material adjustments to make it soft, fuzzy, and slightly glowing.

I added the tectonic plates, bathymetric, and climate zone maps today. I did my best with the climate zones but would like to know if you see any glaring errors. Tomorrow I'll upload the final maps: the river systems, the height map, and a 3D mesh image based on the height map done in Bryce.

impressive and solid work, you did a great job. The only thing are the continents which are spreaded a little too "draggy" on the planet and which are too similar in dimension and form in my oppinion, but this doesn´t reduce the good work and your excellent skills. Especially the political map and the satellite map are georgous.